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Bush: Putin has 'derailed' democratic reforms
Could it be Bush is beginning to truly understand Putin?President Bush arrived here Tuesday for the Group of Eight industrial nations summit, having just a few hours earlier stoked a testy dispute with Russia over a new U.S. missile defense system by saying that Moscow has derailed once-promising democratic reforms. In a speech in Prague celebrating democracys progress around the globe and calling out places where its reach is either incomplete or lacking Bush said that free societies emerge at different speeds in different places and have to reflect local customs. But he said certain values are universal to all democracies, and rapped several countries for not embracing them. In Russia, reforms that once promised to empower citizens have been derailed, with troubling implications for democratic development, Bush said, speaking at a democracy conference organized by former dissidents. The president asserted that this discussion of democratic backsliding in Russia under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin was just one part of a strong relationship. America can maintain a friendship and push a nation toward democracy at the same time, Bush said. But the lecture, however gentle, was not likely to be well-received by Putin, already riled over what he sees as unwelcome meddling by the United States in Russias sphere of influence. Rest at link. Posted by: ed 2007-06-05 |
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